


Tomorrow's Sunshine

by The_Most_Obvious_Sherlockian



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Amnesic Sam, Been working on this for almost a year, Boys Kissing, Broken Castiel, Car Accidents, Car Impala, Comatose Dean, Episode: s07e17 The Born-Again Identity, Established Gabriel/Sam Winchester, Eventual Sex, F/M, Gabriel is a Little Shit, Gabriel's Back, Hurt Dean Winchester, I'm Bad At Titles, Implied Castiel/Dean Winchester, Kissing, Leviathans, M/M, Sam Winchester and Mental Health Issues, Surprise Kissing, Temporary Amnesia, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-03-03
Updated: 2015-09-13
Packaged: 2018-03-15 23:39:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 19,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3466316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Most_Obvious_Sherlockian/pseuds/The_Most_Obvious_Sherlockian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Remember when Cas saved Sam from the devil inside back in season seven? What if he'd taken more than just Lucifer? This is the most I'm-making-this-up-as-I-go-along thing you will ever read. Don't expect any Shakespeare. Unless you, like me, hate Shakespeare (sorry), then go ahead and expect Shakespeare.<br/>I'm sorry, does me talking down my work make people not want to read it? You should read it. I've been writing it for almost a year, please, God, read this thing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Introduction/How We Got in This Mess in the First Place

The angel Castiel touched two fingers to the younger Winchester brother's forehead. They lingered there for a moment, then Cas collapsed and Sam relaxed.

"Cas?" the elder brother gestured for the demon Meg to check on Sam, while he knelt by the fallen angel, "Cas, buddy come on," Dean pleaded as he shook his friend by the shoulders. Cas's eyes opened slowly and Dean breathed a sigh of relief.  Cas stared at Dean with confusion which soon turned to horror. 

"Cas?" The angel opened his mouth, but made no sound. 

"Lucifer," he finally managed.

"Crap," Dean mumbled.

"Hey Dean?"

"Meg, somethin's wrong with Cas. I think he sucked up all Sam's crazy and now he's seein' Satan."

"Cas must've sucked up more than precious Sammy's crazy." Dean turned his head to see what the hell she was talking about. Meg was leaning over Sam's bed.

"Who the hell are you? Let me go!" Dean heard from what must've been Sam.

"Come see," Meg said without turning around. Dean stood, leaving Castiel shaking on the floor.

"Go take care of Cas," he said to the demon.

"What-"

"I said, go take care of Cas," Dean's voice was full of venom and he gave Meg the "did I stutter?" glare. Meg glared back, but made her way to the headcase on the floor while Dean tended to the one in the bed.

"Hey, Sam," Dean said softly once he was standing by Sam's side "how you doing?"

Sam's nostrils flared, "Who are you?" he demanded, "Why am I tied down?"

"'M your brother, Sammy," Dean stated with a sad smile.

"You're insane," the younger spat through his teeth.

"Don't you remember your brother?"

"I don't know you!" he put emphasis on every word.

Dean closed his eyes and sighed.

-

"Dean, come on! We need you out there! The world needs you, and I just happen to like this world!"

Meg and Dean were arguing in the hall. Sam had passed out from sheer exhaustion, and Cas was unresponsive.

"Meg, I can't leave my brother and.... my best friend to rot in some loony bin while I go out and try to ice Roman- which we both know I can't do without them!" Dean nealy yelled, jabbing his hand towards the room. 

"You've been doing fine so far without Cas."

"No, we haven't been doing fine! We've gotten nowhere! And now, I know he's alive- I just can't."

"Maybe Sam was slowing you down."

"Sam's the only thing that's kept me going," Dean said desperately, "even if I could do this without him, I wouldn't leave them here alone."

"They won't be alone."

They were silent for about two seconds, then Dean realized what Meg was saying.

"Oh, so you want me to leave my vegetables of family with a demon, while I go out and piss off some pretty dangerous sons of bitches that I don't know how to gank, alone? Yeah, that sounds like a great idea, Meg. Maybe, if we're real lucky, it will get us all killed!" Dean yelled. Someone in one of the rooms shushed them.

"Look, Dean, I've saved your asses more times than you can count. When are you going to start trusting me?"

"How about never?"

"I'm on your side, Dean!"

"No, you're on your side!"

"Enemy of my enemy blah blah blah right?"

"Wrong. You're not on my side, I don't trust you, and I'm not leaving them here with you- a goddamn demon."

"Don't be so racist! Dean, this is your problem, you're willing to sacrifice your species for your baby brother and your angel boyfriend."

"This is not sacrificing my species."

"Then what is it?"

Dean was silent for a moment, desperately trying to think up an excuse.

"Okay fine. But if there is so much as a scratch on either of them, I will hunt you down, and I will torture you in every way I know how."

"I'm trembling," Meg wore a straight face. 

Dean turned and walked back into his brother's room. He stopped by Sam's bed first. Dam was still passed out, but he looked peaceful. Dean wondered what he was dreaming about. Maybe this was just a temporary thing. Maybe when Sam woke up he'd remember everything. Maybe Dean should just stay with him until the morning.

No. If he did that, he would talk himself into staying longer, and longer after that, and the leviathans would execute their sinister plans before Dean even left the hospital.

"I'll be back soon okay Sammy?"

Sam mumbled something in his sleep. Dean stepped back. Maybe when he came back, if he came back, all of this would be better.  He squatted by Cas, who was huddled into the corner of the room, head resting against the wall, eye open, staring at nothing. Not even blinking.

"Well, Cas," Dean started, "thanks I guess," they just sat there for a moment. Dean put his hand on the angel's shoulder.

"Fell better, man."


	2. Waking Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's bad... It will- hopefully- get better... sorry about typos and shit I should be going through soon and getting rid of things like that, as well as hopefully improving the actual content.

It was dark. Closed eyes were probably to blame for that. Eyes open now, much lighter. The ceiling, a disgusting off white. Or maybe just white and dirty. The man on the bed could refer to himself only as _I_  for he did not know his name, and could not recall what the people from the previous had called him. _I_  wasn't tied down anymore, he wasn't sure if that made him feel better or worse. Most likely better. The people from the last time he was conscious- it occurred to _I_  that he may have slept more than one night- were all gone. However long he had slept, there was light pouring in from a small, high-up window now. He could hear people talking just outside the room he was currently his (was it his room?). A woman in baby blue scrubs walked into the room.

"Oh Sam! Look at you! Awake from your big nap!" she was cheery, annoyingly so. Her accent... it was... Southern?

"Sam?" _I_ asked, he began to sit up.

"Are ya feelin' any better?" she gave wide smile. It was in no way genuine, this was just her job as a... nurse.

"Uh, better?"

"I'll get Dr. Kadinsky! What do you think about goin' out to the day room and sayin' hi to the other patients today Sam?" she didn't wait for an answer, simply turned around, her shoulder-length blonde hair fanning out behind her, and left.

So, Sam was his name. The nurse said she was going to get a doctor so he could only be in some kind of hospital. Was he sick? Maybe he was there because of his memory loss. The nurse had also mentioned a day room and other patients.... and what the hell was up with the events of last night? All of this went through he sleep-distorted and obviously memory-deprived brain fairly slowly and he barely had time to think of anything else before the nurse reentered the room with a man in a white coat. All he needed was a stethoscope for the "doctor" look.

"So, Sam, I see you've gotten some shut-eye. I was pretty excited when Mindy told me you were awake. Maybe we'll be able to get rid of you pretty soon here!" the doctor joked as he sat on the edge of Sam's bed.

"Feeling any better," he asked when Sam didn't react. The nurse- Mindy- was standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the doctor now, she was  much shorter than him.

There was still no response from Sam, so Dr. Kadinsky began again.

"Now that you've gotten some rest, do you feel any-"

"This patient seems to be having a bit of... amnesia."

Both Dr. Kadinsky and the nurse turned their heads to see who was at the open door. Sam sat up taller, and looked between them. When he saw who it was, his eyes widened. It was one of his attackers from last night. The most apathetic one. The dark haired woman, but now she was wearing scrubs.

"I came in earlier and that was my conclusion."

Sam furrowed his brow, she was obviously lying.

"This patient hadn't slept in almost ten days," the doctor stood and took a step towards the dark haired woman. She wasn't phased. Sam wondered what it would take to wipe that smirk off her face. He found himself hoping it was something violent, and that he would be the one to do it, "Now I know you're new here, but next time I'm going to need you to let me know immediately if there is a change in a patient in as critical a condition as Sam."

Sam swore she almost rolled her eyes, "Of course," she forced a smile and walked away.

"So, amnesia? Why don't you tell me what you do remember."

Sam told him about the last time he was conscious, since that was it before he woke up about five minutes ago. He even mentioned the woman who had just left the room. He told him he remembered the names Dean, Cas, and Meg.

"Hallucinations?" Mindy asked quietly, she must've thought Sam couldn't hear.

"Most likely."

"I'm not crazy!" Sam yelled, anger beginning to well up inside of him. He wanted to hit something. 

"No, Sam, we're not saying you are, You may have experienced hallucinations because of the insomnia. It's possible your amnesia is a symptom as well. I've never seen it before, but it seems to be the only explanation."

"That's comforting."

"I've always found it's better to be truthful to my patients. It always seems to end better for everyone that way," he was a much more serious man now than he had been when he'd entered the room.

Although Sam appreciated the honesty, he didn't like the part about endings.

"So, what you're telling me is, if I get some sleep, I will remember everything?" Sam raised an eyebrow, extremely skeptical. He didn't even feel tired,

"I'm not guaranteeing anything. I'm just saying, it's a possibility."

"Okay.  Can I please just get out of this room. Go to the day room or whatever."

"Of course, but you still need sleep."

"I feel fine.:

"Okay, okay," the doctor put his hands up in surrender. Sam stood and immediately sat back down with a throbbing headache.

"Sam are you okay?"

"Yes," was his immediate response. After a few seconds he remembered he was talking to a doctor, "My head," he said quietly.

"Sam, is there any way you could've hit your head?"

"I don't know!" he snapped, "I can't remember!"

"Alright, it's alright, I just want to know if we should be treating you for a head injury."


	3. Meeting the Neighbors... Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please forgive the shittyness of the last chapter. I got stuck with it and just had to move on. Hopefully EVERYTHING ELSE will be better than that.

After a long conversation about head injuries and insomnia with Dr. Kadanski and a metric shit ton of painkillers, Sam was finally allowed to go into the dayroom. Feeling a bit loopy from said painkillers, he decided to sit. There was a chair in the corner of the room that looked promising. He sat,  happy to be out of his room. A nervous looking woman with relatively long dark red hair walked up, but didn't sit in the chair opposite Sam. She seemed to be waiting for an invitation.

"Uh... Hi Sam," she said, looking at her hands.

"Hi..." he replied slowly, raising his eyebrows, was this someone he knew?

"I was just wondering, since you helped me before- well you're never really out here... I don't really know anyone else- well now that I don't have my brother, you know, keeping me company-" she looked up, noticed Sam's confusion, and lost any confidence she may have had, "I just- I stole you another candy bar," she pulled the candy bar out of the pocket of her white hospital pants, and quickly placed it on the table in from of Sam. She turned around and started to walk away.

"Hey," Sam called. The woman turned back around hopefully. "Thanks."

She smiled quickly and started to walk away again, but Sam stopped her... again.

"Hey, do you want to sit and, I don't know, talk?"

She smiled wider this time, "Sure. You still seeing Satan?" 

Sam nearly choked, "What?"

_

The two talked for a while. Neither of them really had anything else to do. Sam explained everything- which really wasn't that much- to her. He learned her name, Marin. Marin explained to him that he had helped her destroy the ghost of her brother. She made it sound really dramatic and like Sam was some kind of hero, which sounded crazier than the rest of the story, but what the hell? When he'd asked how he'd known how to help her (salt and burn her brother's bracelet- how they'd been able to produce a flame as patients in the psych ward of a hospital, Sam did not know), she told him that he was some kind of professional ghost hunter.

"That brother you said was with you," she began,  "I think you've mentioned him before. Dean, right?"

"Yeah. I've mentioned him before? What is he?"

"Well... you said he was your brother."

"No. No one would leave their family in a place like this in a state like mine."

"Um, Sam, everyone leaves their family in a place like this in a state like yours."

Sam shook his head, "It's not safe."

"This is a hospital. There's security and staff. The only thing that's going to hurt you here is the food."

Sam shuddered and tried to push the surprisingly familiar image of maggots crawling out of a sandwich out of his mind, "There's about a thousand things that could get past security and staff," he insisted.

"Like what? More ghosts?"

"Like-" he began with force, "like I don't know what which means I don't know how to kill it which puts us in even more danger! I need to get out of here," Sam stood, but Marin caught his arm. Her hand was colder than he had expected.

"Whoa, whoa! Sam, calm down!"

Sam blinked and sat back down.

"You can't just leave!" Marin whispered harshly. Sam and spoken rather loudly, and she didn't want to attract any more attention.

"Why now? Who's going to stop me?"

"Security, nurses, God knows who else. That's just not the way the world works. Look, if you're in as much danger as you think you are, I'm sure your brother- Dean- would leave someone here to look after you."

Sam sighed. The dark haired nurse walked into the room. Sam's eyes widened. He quickly got Marin's attention as the nurse walked across the room and grabbed what seemed to be pretending to be a muffing from the breakfast bar.

"What Sam?" she asked, looking at the nurse, then back at Sam.

"That's her... from last night... and this morning," he whispered. 

"That's a new nurse... Masters I think. I overheard her talking to someone. She seemed really interested in some new patient. He had some weird ass name I can't remember... something with a C."

"Castiel?"

Marin shook her head.

"Clarence?"

"Yeah. Clarence."

"Short dark hair, blue eyes, kinda tall, handsome I guess?"

"I don't know I haven't seen him."

¨Yeah, his real name is Castiel, or Cas. I don't know why but I know it's him. I should talk to him. Maybe he's the one Dean left to ¨watch over me¨ or whatever,¨ Sam started to get up but again, Marin stopped him.

¨Sam come on, be reasonable.¨

¨What?¨

¨You're clever, I know you see it too. You just don't want to," she continued when Sam didn't respond, ¨Two of the people from last night are here, Sam.¨

¨So?¨

¨The one you said was backed into a corner having a full blown mental breakdown is checked in as a patient. The one that was walkin' and tallkin' is employed a nurse."

Sam sighed.

"Why is it that you want to see Clarence- Cas- whoever he is and not the nurse?"

Sam sat again, "I don't know, I just don't like her," Marin raised her eyebrows, "No nothing petty like that. It's... deeper. Just a sort of feeling that I shouldn't trust her."

"Alright, the pretty nurse gives you bad vibes, whatever. We'll go see Clarence-Cas first."

"Okay. Wait- the 'pretty nurse' does not give me 'bad vibes'!"

Marin laughed, "Alright, Sam. Whatever you say."

-

Marin found out- somehow- where Castiel's room was. His door was open slightly and through crack, Sam saw the 'pretty nurse' sitting in a chair at the foot of a bed, reading a magazine. The man who had been on the floor earlier, Cas, was sitting on the bed with his back straight, staring at the door. When Sam realized where Cas was looking, he quickly moved away from the door. Nothing happened in the room, however, and Marin gave him a weird look, so Sam looked through the crack again. Cas was still looking at the door. In face he hadn't moved at all. Nor did he move as Sam watched. He didn't even blink.

"You just gonna stand there, Sammy?" Nurse Masters said flatly. She hadn't looked up.

Sam walked through the door, a little embarrassed, "It's Sam."

"Mmm?" she still didn't look up.

"Not Sammy." The nickname coming from Nurse Masters made him want to vomit, but so did being in the same room as her, so he didn't think much of it.

"You got all your memories back Sammy?"

"Actually, Nurse Masters-"

"Meg," she still hadn't looked up.

"Meg. We were hoping you and.... Clarence-"

Meg snorted, Sam furrowed his brow.

"-could help with that."

Meg raised her eyebrows, seemingly at the magazine, "We?"

Sam looked behind him and realized Marin was still standing outside the door, "Marin!"

She walked in silently and stood behind Sam.

"I see why she gives you bad vibes," she whispered in his ear.

Meg looked up and watched Marin, who obviously wanted to turn tail and run.

"Oh great, you've got yourself a girlfriend. You've obviously forgotten the average lifespan of your relationships."

"She's not-" Sam stopped because Castiel, who hadn't moved since Sam and Marin had entered the room, turned his head towards the pair. Meg dropped her magazine.

"Sam," Cas stated in his deep familiar voice. He looked Sam directly in the eye, then his already blue eyes flashed an electric blue and he collapsed.

"What did you do?" Meg demanded as she rushed to Cas's side. Sam was a bit in shock, what had just happened?

"I- I don't know I just looked at him- what the hell happened with his eyes?"

"It's the angel equivalent of eyes turning black as far as I can tell," Meg stated.

"Sorry what?" Marin demanded.

"He's fine. Just sleeping. Which for Cas is not fine I guess. I don't know I'm not cut out for this 'good' crap."

"Angel equivalent of eyes turning black?" Sam wanted it to seem crazy. He really did, but angels felt like such a familiar topic.

"Yeah," Meg looked up and Sam. Black flooded bother of her eyes, the white and all. Marin backed up until her back was to the wall, then tuned and ran out the door. Sam took one step back. He really, really, wanted to be freaked out by all of this. So much so that he turned around and walked straight to his own room. He sat on his little cot and tried so hard to remember everything. He nearly drove himself to tears of frustration. Why did his life, that he couldn't even remember, have to be weird.

Why couldn't he just be normal?


	4. Levia-What?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's probably a fuck ton of typos and I apologize ahead of time for that. Hopefully you can decipher because I am WAY too tired to comb through and I want to get this posted and over with before I forget.

Finally, Sam decided that he wasn't going to remember anything by feeling sorry for himself. Marin would probably be too freaked out to talking to him... ever again, so Sam walked back to Castiel and Meg's room alone. He stopped outside the door when he heard voices. Meg was talking on the phone with a man on speaker phone.

"Like I said, Sam is up and walking but I don't know what the hell's up with Cas."

_"Does Sam remember anything?"_

"No, Dean, there's been no miraculous recovery. Cas looked at him, said his name all mysterious-like and passed out."

_"God, Cas. Has he said anything?"_

"He's comatose genius. No, he hasn't been saying your name in his sleep- sorry to disappoint."

_"Shut up Meg. Is Sam still seein' the devil? Is he getting sleep? Is he eating?"_

"Dean, it's been one-"

"I'm doing fine  _mom,_ " Sam interrupted. He didn't like them talking about him. Meg didn't know shit.

 _"Sammy?"_ When Dean said it, it was okay. Annoying, yes, but okay.

"I'm assuming you're my brother Dean I've been hearing so much about."

_"You don't remember me?"_

"I don't remember anything, don't take it too personally."

_"Man, it's good to hear your voice."_

Everyone was silent for a moment. Sam was thinking of all the questions he had. He landed with

"Where are you?"

_"Roman enterprises. Meg called to tell me you're walkin' and talkin'. Thank God she called before I went it. I'd hate to get eaten just 'cause my phone gave me away. I am glad she called with the update, though. And I'm glad you're here. You know how our job is, I may not come out, and I'm defiantly happy to  say goodbye to a Sammy that's conscious, even if he doesn't know who I am. I'm going in alone tonight, and I probably won't make it back out, so say goodbye to Cas for me. I'm gonna stop talking now- you know how I feel about chick flick moments."_

"That was a really nice speech, but I have no idea what you're talking about," Sam felt a bit awkward.

 _"Oh well. It was worth a try. Tell Cas... tell Cas bye when he wakes up. If you don't remember by then, he'll take care of you. Bye, Sammy,"_  he hung up. Sam looked up at Meg, he hadn't realized he'd been looking at the phone. She raised her eyebrows.

"I'm sorry, did you two want to be alone?" she asked sarcastically. In the back of Sam's mind, he wondered if she was capable of sincerity. 

"What the hell was he talking about?"

"Hmm?"

"Did he just tell me he was gonna get eaten?"

Meg opened her mouth to speak, but didn't seem to have anything worth saying.

"I just met my brother and he told me he was gonna get eaten!"

"Wow, you're not kidding around. You really don't remember."

"Remember what?" Sam demanded, she was really starting to piss him off.

"Angels, demons, Levi's, werewolves, vamps... Getting eaten is kind of an occupational hazard. Hate to say it, but it's why you two are so close even though you fight like a married couple. You really can't afford to be on your own- without backup."

"Without backup? Like Dean is _right now._ "

Meg sighed, "Even if he does die, he'll probably just come back."

" _Come back?"_

"Yeah. Between you and Dean, you've probably died about a hundred and twenty times."

"What?"

"It's like a yearly thing for you. And you've dragged Cas here into it now," Meg gestured to the bed.

"Why can't I just be a lawyer with a head injury?"

"That'd be boring."

"I'd take boring over annual death."

Meg shrugged, "Life doesn't get fun 'til you're dead."

-

Meg was extraordinarily annoying. After about ten minutes of trying to get any information about himself out of her, since she seemed to know so much, Sam couldn't take it anymore. He decided to find Marin and see if she was calmed down enough to talk to him. She was sitting in the chair Sam had been earlier. She had her head down on the table, forehead resting on her arms. Her deep red hair was spread out on the table. Sam sat down next to her and put his arm around her shoulders as best he could. It seemed like the thing to do. She straightened up, but didn't look at Sam. She wiped her cheeks a couple times and Sam realized she was crying. Finally, she turned and wrapped her arms around Sam.

"This can't be because of the nurse's eyes," he said, stroking her hair like she was a child.

"I just... I really miss my brother," she shuddered, "I don't mean the one who tried to kill me, I mean my real brother," she squeezed Sam a little tighter.

"I miss mine too."

He said it just to make her feel better, but he came to realize that he really did mean it.

"I wish it had worked and I'd died in that fire."

Sam pulled her away and held her and arm's length so he could look into her eyes.

"Don't say that," he said, "Ever."

"You don't understand."

"What? I don't understand losing someone I love? Marin, I lost myself. My brother just told me he was gonna get eaten!" he paused, "I guess I may have just lost my brother too."

"Of course," Marin mumbled. The tears had all but stopped.

"What?"

"Well you're my friend, so naturally you couldn't be someone even remotely normal. I'm just lucky you're not a serial killer."

Sam smiled, "You never know, I might be."

-

Cas had been sitting in his heaven. Not someone else's that he liked, his own. The passenger seat of Dean's Impala. Dean was singing along to _Here I Go Again_. The music was so loud that anyone else wouldn't have heard Dean's voice, but Cas filtered the sound. At this point, he'd lived this memory at least a hundred times, but it never got old. This was the first time he'd smiled. Before he'd betrayed Dean, before the leviathans, before he'd tried to be God, there had been this day. And he smiled on cue every time. But this time, something new happened. There was a loud ping. It rang out through the entire memory, over the music, and over Dean. A white flash, and a face. Kevin Tran's face. The namees of all the prophets were burned into his soul. Cas opened his vessel's eyes.

-

It had been a few weeks and Sam had spent virtually all of it with Marin. Meg hadn't talked to him since the phone call with Dean, she barely came out of Cas's room- only to get food and new magazines. Its must've been really boring in there. But now, she ran into the dayroom, straight to Sam and Marin, who had marked the corner table as their own.

"What's up?" asked Sam. She was obviously either excited or terrified, possibly both.

"Cassie's is back."

Castiel was sitting on his bed, looking at the door, a strangely pleasant smile on his face.

"Hello Sam," he said as Sam walked through the door, "I still have all of your memories, I assume you'd like those back. I had to take them to make sure I got everything. I just really wanted to do it right. I wanted to do something right. Though, I suppose, since I've hospitalized you I didn't really do it right. So I'm back to doing everything wrong. I'm sorry Sam."

"What?"

"Come here, Sam. Thankfully, whatever cleared your sickness from my soul, left you here.," he pointed to his head, "I don't know if I would be able to let you Winchesters down again. I know what you think of me."

Sam blinked, was Cas offering to give him his memories back? Was it that easy?

"Closer."

Sam was only about three feet away. He took one more step. Cas reached out and touched two fingers to Sam's temple. Sam closed his eyes. There was a flash of light and a sharp pain where Cas's fingers made contact with his skin. He pulled away reflexively.

"No Sam!" Cas yelled, "That isn't everything!"

Sam walked backwards until he got to the wall. His hands were on the sides of his head- eyes slammed shit. His mouth was open like his was screaming, but there was no sound.

"Oh my God what the hell did you do to him?" Marin, who had been silent before now, demanded.

"I think heaven is a little more accurate," Meg stated.

"What?"

"It's his memories. The Winchester brothers have a very painful past. Even when they go through life making the memories the way they're meant to. To receive them all in a matter of seconds... it was painful for me. I can't imagine the agony Sam must be in," he shook his head meaningfully.

"You okay there Clarence? Your time of the month?"

"Is _he_ okay?" Marin demanded, "What about Sam?"

"Don't worry. Sam's pain will pass in a few minutes. Unfortunately, we'll have to go through this again since he pulled away before all of his memories transferred. He has his first few moments until shortly after Jess died."

"Jess?"

"That was before almost everything though," Meg looked at Sam who was still silently screaming, "That was before their dad, before Dean sold his soul... before their past even got painful."

"Think about it Meg. Sam is going through every memory between those two points in his timeline. Even then, the bad outweighed the good."

Meg shrugged.

"Will someone please explain to me what the fuck is going on?"

Meg and Cas looked at Marin. Meg opened her mouth to reply- probably with something rude and sarcastic, but Sam made a sound. It was like someone was strangling him, and he was crying for help.

"So was that good or bad?" Meg asked.

"I think he's nearing the end of his memories."

"And is that good or bad?"

"Well he'll be conscious."

"And-"

"I don't know Meg!" Meg put her hands up in surrender, slightly confused by Cas's outburst. He was acting more... human.

Sam gasped, "Oh God," he said breathlessly.

"Are you okay?" Marin asked, although she kept her distance.

He looked up at Cas with bloodshot eyes, "Take them back."

"No, Sam you need-"

"Take them back! Take them back! Please Castiel, I'm begging you!"

"I can't."

"You have to! Please, take them back, let me live a normal life!"

"No, Sam-"

"The way we grew up- I got out and... and Jess..." he buried his face in his hands, "Just let me be a normal guy with amnesia, I'm begging you."

"Look in the mirror Sammy! You're not that person anymore!" Meg insisted.

"You have longer hair now," Cas added.

"What does that even mean?" he looked up, "and I still don't know who either of you are!"

"There's about six years of memory you're missing," Meg said coolly, "through I'm pretty sure you won't like me much better when you remember."

"Where's Dean."

"You were here last time we heard from him. Roman Enterprises."

"The leviathans have most likely eaten him by now," Cas stated sadly as he began a staring contest with the blank wall.

"Well aren't you optimistic?"

"I've gotta go help him."

"No, Sam, you need the rest of your memories. As it is... do you even know what leviathans are?" Sam glared at Meg. Cas was still looking at the wall.

"Does it get better?" Sam asked, looking at Cas, "Will it be less painful?"

"Sam-" Meg started.

"No. Actually, it might kill you."

Sam's eyes widened.

"Kill him?" Marin demanded, "You're saying Sam's memories are going to kill him?" she was in awe, "And you still want to- you people are crazy! Inhuman! Are you even human?"

Meg and Cas looked at each other quickly, "No," they said in unison.

"Oh my God!" she seemed to be having trouble breathing, "Come on Sam, we'll call you're brother. He'll get you out of here without risking your life," she turned around and started to leave, but stopped when Sam didn't follow, "Sam?"

"You go Marin. This is a lot to take in. I know how crazy it all seems."

"They mention you could die and suddenly you're interested? What are you, suicidal?"

"Well I'm in the right place!" Marin jumped at Sam's outburst. She looked up at Sam and shook her head, tears beginning to form in her eyes. She turned around quickly and walked out of the room.

Sam cursed himself internally, he shouldn't have said that, "Look, Meg, Castiel, I appreciate that you're trying to help. I just don't think I'm ready. If the rest of my past is that painful, I'm not sure I want-"

"It's not really up to you Sam!" Meg exclaimed.

"Yes it is! Of course it's up to me! It's my life!"

"Dean-"

"You said it yourself, Castiel, Dean's probably dead!" with Sam's last word, a shrill ringtone pierced through the argument. Meg reached into her pocket, almost embarrassed. Her phone was ringing. Everyone stared at the phone silently. The caller ID said "Cas's Ex" and there was a picture of Dean flipping off the camera.

"Answer it," Sam said flatly.

"It could be Roman. If I answer, he could track us."

"If he had Dean he can track us already. Answer it."

"No!"

"Do it! That could be my brother-"

"I don't like conflict," Cas said and with a flutter of wings, he was gone. Sam took advantage of the distraction to tap the green "answer" button on the phone in Meg's hand, just before it stopped ringing.

"Dean?" Sam asked urgently.

" _Sammy?_ "

"You have no proof it's him, Sam."

"When's your birthday-"

"A leviathan would know that."

" _She's right Sam, there's no point in testing anything until I get there._ "

"Get here?"

" _Well I found something interesting at Roman Enterprises. Plus I thought I might see my little brother. How are you anyway Sammy?_ "

"I-"

"He thinks Jess just died."

" _Whoa! That's a lot of progress!_ "

"I know nothing useful."

Dean ignored that, " _Any idea how it happened?_ "

"Yeah, Clarence woke up," Meg stated.

At the sound of his nickname, Castiel fluttered into existence next to Sam.

" _What? Why didn't you tell me- is he there?_ "

"He is now," Sam said, trying to bring his heart rate down from the jump scare the magically appearing angel had given him.

" _Hey Cas! How's it going?_ "

"Your brother is very stubborn."

Dean chuckled, " _I know he is, but how are you?"_

"Frustrated with your brother."

" _I mean how are you doing?_ "

"You're supposed to ask what Sam did."

" _Uh.. okay. What did Sam do?_ "

"He won't let me import the rest of his memories. Dean, make your brother behave."

" _What? Are you insane? Sam let him give you your memories back! Hell, you should be begging for your memories back!_ "

"He said it could kill me!"

" _I haven't known you to be afraid of dying since..._ "

"Six years ago?"

Dean sighed. 

" _Well, without the last six year's worth of information, do you really think you're going to last long?_ "

"What?"

"Do you even know what a leviathan is?"

"Something... big?"

" _Good guess._ " Dean explained- using the phrase "son's of bitches" about a thousand times, especially when talking about their apparent leader: Dick Roman. Deans said that Roman had killed Bobby only a few weeks ago. The entire time Dean was explaining, one thought was going through Sam's head. When his brother was finished, he asked.

"So how do we kill 'em?"

" _That's the spirit,_ " Dean mumbled " _Basically, we don't don't know how. The closest we've gotten is cut off the head and separate that son of a bitch from the body. Oh- and borax works like holy water on them._ "

"How the hell are you still alive, Dean?"

" _I don't know, man. I guess I just really want to get through this. For Bobby, you know? I mean I ran into this badass the other day. Without her, I definitely wouldn't be here. You would've lover her, she was a huger nerd- like you. Anyway, I'm on my way there. I got something while I was in. It's weird. It was in this clay thing- which I, of course, broke open."_

"Of course you did."

" _So there was this tablet in it. It has some weird ass writing on it. It looks like some weird kind of Enochian. I was hoping Cas was doing a little better, maybe translate."_

"I'm doing much better. I will read your leviathan tablet."

_"Thank you Cas"_

"You're welcome, Dean."

_"Um... Alright- well I'm about halfway there. I'll see you guys in a few hours."_

Sam looked at the time on the phone, 6:42 PM. Looked like Dean would be driving pretty late. Not that that was anything new.

"Alright see you then."

 _"Oh and Sam?"_ Dean stopped his litter brother from hanging up,  _"Let Cas give you your memories back. You're strong enough. I have faith in you."_

"We'll talk when you get here."

_"Bitch."_

"Jerk."

Dean hung up. Cas raised his hand and took a step towards Sam, as if asking for permission.

"No, Cas. Still no."

The angel shrugged and let his hand fall. Then he held it out again, as if to shake Sam's hand.

"Pull my finger."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Had to put a Bitch/Jerk in there. You knew it had to happen. I tear up every time I write/read the part where Sam is begging Cas to take his memories back. I'm not sure why. I hope you shared that with me.


	5. Does He Usually Drive This Slow?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I SUCK AT WRITING BROKEN CAS!!!!  
> I can actually write regular Cas pretty decently but apparently not broken Cas.  
> Blerg I suck at writing.

After Cas had busted the lights in his room (mental note: never pull Castiel's finger) they collectively decided that if Sam wasn't going to behave, he should get some sleep. So Sam was lying in his medical cot, staring at the ceiling , thinking about seeing his brother. He finally got to sleep for a few hours, but he awoke again around 1 AM. There was no hope of getting back to sleep. All he could think about was the fact that Dean was not there yet, and what could've possibly happened to him. Somehow, he managed to drift off again, but he had a nightmare that Dean got trapped in a mudslide and eaten by a vamp. Which was, of course, ridiculous. Dean could kick any vamp's ass, even covered in mud. That's what he tried to tell himself but it was 5 in the morning and his brother was still MIA. Sam tried to convince himself that the only thing in that dream capable of hurting Dean in any measurable way was the damage to the Impala, but he still felt like something had gone terribly wrong. Finally, he decided that even if he could get back to sleep, he wouldn't want to for fear of more nightmares, so he paid Cas and Meg a visit. Dean must've been with them by now. Maybe if he saw his brother, his heart would stop pounding.

Getting to the room was easy. Sam wondered how Marin could think the security could protect her from other people- let alone any manner of supernatural creature. Ignorance really is bliss. When Sam entered Castiel's room, neither Meg nor Cas were sleeping. Did demons sleep? Sam had never given it much thought. Castiel seemed to be trying to read one of Meg's magazines. Meg was just watching him affectionately. The room was so painfully silent, Sam didn't know if they'd noticed his presence.

"Hey," he whispered. Cas looked up from his magazine- which he was now holding sideways- and smiled. Meg glanced at Sam, raised her eyebrows, and looked away. A demon's hello, Sam guessed.

"Is Dean here yet?" he asked, though he didn't see any sign of his older brother.

"No," Cas said. His deep voice- he had failed to whisper- clashed with the silence.

"Shouldn't he be here by now? What time is it?"

"It's about five fifteen," Meg didn't even look at a time keeping device.

"He should've been here four hours and fifty six minutes ago," Castiel seemed a bit worried.

"What's keeping him?" Sam was still whispering.

"Traffic?" Meg was looking at Cas's magazine.

"He doesn't get caught in traffic."

Cas chuckled.

"Weather?" she seemed so bored.

"He drives too recklessly to be affected by weather."

"Maybe he got hit by a drunk driver."

Sam's eyes widened and all blood drained from his face. Meg looked up when he didn't answer.

"Kidding, sheesh. Your brother is fine, Sam. Calm down. He'll be here any minute."

"Yeah. Alright. Maybe he got distracted. Went on a hunt."

Both Cas and Meg knew that Dean would never get distracted from making sure his baby brother was okay- not to mention Castiel- but neither of them said anything. Worrying about Dean wasn't going to do Sam any favors.

"Try to get some more sleep," Cas said with a kind and caring smile. Somehow, kind and caring simply looked wrong on Cas.

Sam shook his head, "I'll wait here."

The three sat in silence for what must've been an hour. Sam almost nodded off a couple times, but he knew that if either of the two supernatural creatures he was with noticed that, he would be forced to go to bed like a child.

"Do you think he stopped for the night?"

Cas shook his head, "Last time you 'stopped for the night' you were nearly consumed by a collection of pagan gods and goddesses. My brother Gabriel-" Sam's breath caught when he heard the name, and he was overwhelmed by a feeling of dread, but he didn't know why, "-was killed there. By Lucifer."

Sam's eyes widened, "Oh," he said with a slight nod. "Sorry, did you say 'Lucifer'? As in the devil?" he asked once he let what Cas had just said sink it.

"Exactly."

"Are you- are you telling me I know Satan?" Meg snorted. "To say the least," Cas stated. Sam felt very much like there was a joke he wasn't getting, "So, what, do I know God too?"

Cas shrugged, “We tried to find him once, but he didn’t want to be found. The opposite of Lucifer wouldn’t be God anyway. That would be the archangel Michael.”

“So do I-“

“In a way…”

“Okay…” they were silent for a while, “Good to know more about myself without a death threat.”

“Hmm!” Meg chuckled.  She still seemed bored.

“What time is it?”

Meg pulled out her phone. The light from the screen lit up her face and ta wall behind her.

“Six.”

“People will be waking up soon. You should head back to your room, Sam,” Cas said.

“But what about Dean?”

“We’ll call him when it’s light.”

“Calling him won’t help if he’s dead.”

“He’s not dead, Sam.”

“You don’t know that!”

“Just go! Before you get in trouble or something,” Meg commanded.

Sam felt like a puppy who had gotten caught doing something he wasn’t supposed to be doing.  He walked back to his room, crawled into his bed and lay on his side. The cot was hard and the only blanket was a thin blue sheet. He’d been so tired and preoccupied before, he hadn’t noticed how uncomfortable it was. Sam told himself the shiver that ran through his body as he thought of what could’ve happened to his brother was from the cold. 

At some point, when the winter sun was just starting to peak out from behind the horizon and penetrate the darkness, Sam drifted off to sleep again.  By the time he woke up, it was completely light outside. Dr. Kadansky was sitting at the end of his bed, a grim expression on his face.

“Well, I wish I could give you something other than bad news, Sam. “

Sam sat up in bed, unaware of what a mess his hair was.

“What? What’s up?” Cancer? Something wrong with his brain? Something wrong with Dean? Dean!

“Sam, do you remember your brother Dean?”

_Oh shit!_

“Yeah, rings a bell for sure.”

“Good! That’s great news!” It was as if Dr. Kadansky was avoiding the not-so-great news. Of course he was, no one likes giving bad news.

“So, what’s up with Dean?”

“Well he was driving pretty late last night-“ _shit, shit, shit,_ “Probably coming to see you actually,” he paused as if expecting a response, but Sam was too horrified to speak. Was this some morbid version of a dream come true?

“He was in a crash. He’s checked into a hospital about an hour and a half west of here.”

“Oh, God is he okay?” while terrified for Dean, Sam wasn’t entirely surprised. Or, not as surprised as he should have been.

“You were his emergency contact. Since you’re starting to remember a few things, I think I could let you give the hospital a call. They should be able to answer any questions you have.”

“Thank you, when can I do that?”

“Visit the nurse’s station in about an hour. That should be enough time for you to get your thoughts together. “

“My thoughts… okay,” Sam started to protest, but decided against it. In the weeks he’d been checked in as a patient, Sam had learned how pointless arguing with the staff was.

The doctor smiled and walked out of Sam’s room. Sam didn’t really have a lot of “thoughts to get in order,” Dean wasn’t dead- not yet anyway- so he decided to find Marin. If she would even talk to him after all the weird she’d witnessed the night before. He found her where he expected to, in their corner.  She was sitting in the chair Sam had been when they had- to Sam’s knowledge- had just met, her knees were drawn up to her chest. Sam sat in the chair opposite her, she looked sad. Or horrified- confused maybe. Possibly all three.

“What’s up?

"Nothing."

"You're lying."

"Oh are you psychic now too?"

Sam thought about his dream and how it compared with Kadanski's news that morning. He took just a little too long to respond.

"Oh my God," Marin her face in her hands.

"Is this about me? I thought you already knew I was crazy."

"Yeah. No, this isn't about you. Although your crazy shit doesn't help."

"Okay, what then?"

"They want to move me to 'a more permanent facility,'" Marin groaned, her face no longer in her hands. 

"What? That's insane! There's patients that have been her for half a decade, you said so yourself!"

"Apparently, I'm too much for the orderlies-"

"Now that I can believe," was he flirting? Why was he flirting? He was still crushed over Jess, how could he even think of anyone in that way?

Marin smiled a little, "And now that my physical condition is improving..."

"Well how much longer are you staying here?"

She shrugged, "A couple days."

"They shouldn't be able to move you against your will."

Marin looked Sam straight in the eye for the first time since he sat down, "No one said it was against my will, Sam."

He blinked, "You want to leave?" It felt cheesy putting it into words, but Sam had thought the two had 'had something.'

Marin almost seemed embarrassed, "Sam, you're great. Really. You've made my time here much more entertaining- not to mention illegal. I don't think I've stolen so much in my life. And thanks for helping with my brother. You're a great friend. Really. It's just that... things are getting really weird. Thinks surrounding you."

"I thought you knew how weird my life was," Sam felt desperate. Marin was the only friend he had managed to make since waking up and- judging by the complete lack of people that talked to him- since he arrived.

"Ghosts... that's one thing. One very massive thing, yes, but- angels and demons? Sam, that's something completely different! I'm just... I'm not ready to believe in this stuff. It's kind of hard not to believe in something when it's happening right under your nose."

"You'd be surprised."

"I just feel like if I keep hanging around you I'll get sucked into it. So when the Doc offered to move me to somewhere 'more equipped to my needs' it sounded like a pretty good deal."

Sam sighed. She was right.

"Makes sense."

The two were silent for a moment. Then Sam put his head in his hands and sighed.

"How long do you think it's been since I sat down?"

"I don't know, ten minutes, why?"

"No reason." Fifty more minutes. 

"No, tell me. I want to know."

Sam looked up and a slight smile ghosted at the edges of his mouth.

"Are you sure? It's a little... weird."

"I can take a little more weird before I go. Builds character."

"Dean got in a crash last night."

All traces of humor left Marin's face. "Oh my God, is he alright?"

"I don't know. Kadanski won't let me call the hospital he's checked in to for an hour."

" _Oh_ , that is weird! But not your kind of weird. Like, detective show kind of weird."

"True, but it gets my kind of weird. Last night, I had a dream Dean got caught in a mudslide. In his car," he left out the vamp part.

"That could've just been a coincidence. Happens all the time."

"Not to us. Nothing so normal."

"So what, you think you're having psychic dreams now?"

Sam leaned in closer. For some reason, he didn't want anyone to hear this conversation, "Before Jess, my girlfriend, died. I had a dream about her. And she died exactly the same way."

"A mudslide?"

"No! As in my dream. She burnt on the ceiling."

"The-"

"It's a long story."

"So Dean's dead then?"

"If not I'm sure he will be soon."

"Why are you so cool about this? Dean is your brother!"

"We're not exactly on the best of terms."

"Who cares? If your brother dies- or whatever the hell is going on here- you're sad! It doesn't matter if you'rs best friends or you haven't spoken in a year!"

"I don't remember the last six years on my life. He could be a completely different person."

"Or he could be exactly the same. He's still your brother."

"You're starting to sound like him."

"Good! I need to remind you of him. Everything needs to remind you of him. You need to think about him- feel bad! God dammit, Sam why aren't you phased by this? Don't you have a soul?"

Sam's face lit up. He reached across the small table- they were both leaning in at this point- grabber her face, and kissed her smack on the lips.

"Marin, you're a genius!" he exclaimed.

"What?" she seemed to be in shock. 

"Soulless!"

"Come again?" 

"Soulless! I was walking around for a year and a half with no soul!"

"You say that like it's a good thing! What does that even mean?"

Sam smiled even wider, "It means I'm remembering. No near-death experience necessary," he stood up, "I've got to talk to Cas about this."

He kissed Marin on the cheek too, for the hell of it, and gave her a tight hug, "Thank you!" he said as he began to walk away.

"What about Dean?" she called after him, but Sam was already gone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I refuse to apologize.


	6. Moooom! Dean's Dying Again!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Read the chapter name. What does it sound like?

Sam strode towards Cas's room, sure he'd found the answer. His confidence diminished the second he walked into the room. Meg and Cas were staring at him. Cas looked extremely worried. Meg just looked like Meg.

"What?" he asked, almost reluctant to hear the answer.

"Dean's dead. Again," Meg stated like it was no big deal.

"Dean's not dead," Sam countered, "They said he's been in a crash. He's in a hospital not a morgue."

"Hospitals have morgues."

"Yeah, but my brother isn't in one so who cares?"

"Cas says Dean is dead."

"No offense, but Cas doesn't exactly seem to have all him marbles."

As if to prove Sam's point, Cas fell back on his bed and smiled at the ceiling. 

"No offense, but neither do you. Sorry, but I'll take a crazy angel over an amnesic hairless ape any day."

"Yeah- I'm having a hard time not being offended by that."

"I'm sorry. Should I write you an apology?"

There was a flutter of wings. Sam glanced at the bed, Cas was gone.

"Dammit!"

Meg raised her eyebrows, "He doesn't like conflict."

"Well, where did he go?"

Meg shrugged, "Try the day room."

Since Sam really couldn't stand being in a room alone with Meg any longer than absolutely necessary, he decided to find Cas. When he got into the day room, he glanced around, hoping they hadn't lost the broken angel. He felt strangely responsible for Castiel, like some kind of child or puppy he'd found, and losing him just felt like bad parenting. Thankfully, he wasn't all that lost. He was sitting at Sam and Marin's table, alone. That table seemed to be a common place for those who didn't particularly want to be found. In the back of his mind, Sam wondered where Marin had gone. He didn't really dwell on that, though, and he sat down across from the fallen angel.

"Hey, Cas" 

He didn't answer.

"What was Meg talking about back there? Do you really think Dean's dead?"

Cas played with the belt on the dirty tenchcoat he insisted on wearing over his hospital clothes, "There is no way for me to prove that he is alive."

"So you assume he's dead?" Sam almost asked what the broken halo  _could_ do.

Cas's eyes flashed up for a second, the he looked back down at his coat, "She assumes he's dead."

Sam didn't say anything back. He had forgotten about the good news, now that he was immersed in bad. Someone from the nurse's station called his name. He sighed and turned around. The cheery nurse from Sam's first day was smiling at him. She held a phone to her chest. Whoever was on the other line wanted to talk to Sam. He stood and walked to the station. 

"Phone call for you," said the cheery nurse, holding out the phone. He took it and held it to his ear, hoping it wasn't someone calling to tell him Dean was gone.

"Hello?"

"Hiya Sammich!" came a voice that was defiantly not Deans. Who the hell would call him Sammich?

"Who is this?"

"Oh has it been that long? I mean, I know I died- but I've done that before. I thought my goodbye note was rather memorable."

"Apparently not memorable enough. Who's speaking?"

"Oh... just your favorite archangel."

"Sorry?"

"Cassie's big bro!"

"Not ringing any bells."

"Gabriel!"

"I'm sorry I-"

"Hello? Trickster!"

"Look, I'm sorry but-"

"Is this Sam Winchester?"

"Yes, if you's just let me finish-"

"The hell is wrong with you? I called 'cause Dean's all screwed up and you're broken too?"

Sam raised his eyebrows, "You do know where I am right?"

"True. I'll have to pay you and Cas a visit."

"Okay, but you mentioned-"

"See you in ten!"

Sam was going to protest, but a dial tone cut him off. 

"Everything alright?" Cheery Nurse asked.

"Yeah. Fine," Sam replied robotically. He turned and walked back to Cas. "Your 'big bro' just called. He wants to pay us a visit."

"You're going to have to be more specific, as the correct reaction to a visitation from one of my older siblings ranges from warm hug to arming ourselves with the weapons of God and the heavenly host."

Sam furrowed his brow, "Uh... Gabriel. He called me Sammich. I don't think we need to break out the holy machine guns but I might have to punch him in the face."

"That's impossible. Gabriel is died. He gave his life trying to reason with Lucifer."

"Remind me not to try to reason with Lucifer."

"You tried. You were sent to hell. I had to pull you out, but I left-"

"My soul."

"How did you...?"

"Long story. Apparently, Gabriel is alive, and coming here."

"Not possible."

"Well, we'll find out, won't we? I'm going to see if I can figure out what's up with Dean."

Cas smiled. It clashed with the worry lines on his face, "Tell him I say hello."

Sam chuckled at the seemingly worry-free angel, "Of course."

The nurse at the station insisted on dialing and explaining the situation for the him. The cheery nurse's shift must have been over. She glared Sam as she handed him the phone. He contemplated mumbling 'christo' under his breath, but decided against it. He couldn't deal with a demon in is current position. The nurse was probably just a bitch.

"Hello?" Sam mumbled into the phone. His hear was pounding against his chest. He was terrified of what the hospital on the would tell him. He wished he could take the phone somewhere more private, but the bitchy nurse and the cord attached to the phone kept him right where he was.

"Sam Smith?"

"Yes."

"You called just in time."

"Sorry?"

"Your brother is about to go into surgery."

"Surgery? What the hell is going on?"

"Your brother was in a serious two car crash. Two people were killed. Dean is lucky he needs an OR not a morgue. His car is totaled-"

"Dean totaled the Impala? He's gonna be pissed."

"No, he's going to be paralyzed. At best."

"Is this some kind of sick joke?"

There was no reply.

"Hello?" Sam demanded.

Still nothing then-

 _Clap... clap... clap..._ Not coming from the other line...

Sam turned around to see a sandy-brown haired, relatively short man in a green canvas jacket that looked like something straight out of Dean's closet. Cocky confined radiated from the little man- and he was slow clapping.

"Wow, Sammy, I was just trying to have a little fun. It seems you're getting used to my little illusions." For some reason, no one was stopping him from clapping obnoxiously in the quiet day room. No one was even looking at him. It was as if Sam was the only one who could see- or hear- the cocky little son of a bitch.

"Who are you?"

"C'mon Sam! It's me, Gabriel!" 


	7. How Are We a Thing?

"It's been a while, I'll admit," Gabriel continued, "But all we did together, " he wiggled his eyebrows, "didn't think I'd be that forgettable."

All they'd done together? What did that even mean? "I'm sorry, Gabriel, but I don't remember anything after late 2005."

"I bet you say that to all the boys," he smiled mischievously, walking forward. He was close. Too close. Uncomfortably close.

"Look, I-" he was cut off by Gabriel stepping closer still, reaching up behind his head with one hand, and closing the gap between the two men's bodies by placing his hand in the middle of Sam's back, and pulling him closer. 

"Uh... What are you-" he was cut off again, this time by a pair of lips on his. Sam struggled to get free, but the smaller man was surprisingly strong. Sam was unable to get free until Gabriel was satisfied. 

Sam's face was hot. Really hot. He must've been bright red.

"Um... what?" He wasn't quite sure what had just happened. Or why.

"True love's kiss breaks any curse, eh Sasquatch?" he winked.

"Uh... I don't..." Gabriel was so familiar it was extremely distracting. "I'm not... um... cursed," was all he could manage. Somehow, he blushed even more.

"Not anymore, anyway," Gabriel wiggled his eyebrows again, "Gotta keep you clean of those curses. You'd be the type to get cursed," he assured Sam jokingly.

"I.. um..." Oh pull it together Sam! His face was getting hotter still. He was being embarrassed by his embarrassment. The strange familiarity was only getting more intense.

"Sammy, calm down," he clapped him on the shoulder as if they hadn't just- "There's no reason to be embarrassed. I've been putting up with your shitty kissing for years."

"Okay, what the hell is going on?" Sam demanded.

"Someone needs to tell Cassie to give you the last few years back."

"I'm calling Dean," it was almost as if Dean was the only person from Sam's memory that was still in his life. Was their dad gone too?

"You can try," Gabriel almost laughed.

"Is that a threat?"

"No, it's just that he's not extremely... conscious. That would be why I'm here."

"Really? I thought you just came to kiss random guys" the confusion and... wee bit of excitement was wearing off. Now Sam was just pissed and burdened with the world's weirdest case of deja vu.

"Oh, you're hardly random, Sam. Anyway, I don't know what you've heard. What do you think happened to Dean?"

"Car crash?"

"Well I guess you could say that."

"Why? What happened?"

"Your brother stole something Roman really doesn't want him to have and now he's in the hospital. I'm sure you can put two and two together." 

"Roman. Leviathans, right?" Gabriel nodded, "Then why is Dean still alive? He is still alive, right?"

"Eh... more or less."

Sam's eyes widened in the way they did when he was exasperated, "How can someone be more or less alive?"

"Well I don't think a dead Dean would stay that way very long anyway but-"

"So he is dead?" Sam was getting more and more pissed off with Gabriel by the second.

"Let me finish, Sam. He's not dead. He's comatose. Brain dead from what I hear. I haven't actually been to see him yet," he admitted.

"Okay, so basically dead," could he not have just said that?

"Haven't you ever seen the Princess Bride? Mostly dead is much easier to fix than all the way dead."

"It was a book first, you know," was all Sam could think to say.

"I just saw the movie."

"Read the book."

"Eh, I'm not really the read-the-book kind of guy," another wink.

"How are we a thing?" Sam asked, gesturing towards Gabriel and back at himself quickly.

"Ouch! Sammy that hurts! Past you is a bitch."

"Yeah. Thanks. So how are you planning on fixing brain dead Dean?"

"Sam, I'm an archangel. For me, even all-the-way-dead is easy to fix. You and your brother are proof of that," Gabriel started to walk away, towards the exit.

"Okay," Sam mouthed before following him. Gabe waved to Cas, who smiled back, on the way out of the dayroom.  Sam followed him all the way to the front door. No one stopped them, or even looked at them. It was only when Gabriel opened the front door of the hospital for Sam- a true gentleman... or gentlearchangel- that Sam realized what they were doing.

"Whoa, whoa! We can't just leave!"

"Yes we can. Look, I'm leaving." He walked out the open door, "Coming?"

Sam pushed his doubt aside and followed the strange little man.  Once a few steps outside of the building, Gabriel stopped. Sam almost ran into him.

"That's better," the shorter sighed.

"What's better?"

Gabriel ignored his question and turned towards him, hand extended.

"Take my hand."

"Why?"

Gabe raised his eyebrows. Sam sighed and took the archangel's hand. With a flutter of invisible wings, the pair was in front of a different hospital, Sam still in his white patient garb.

"Why did we have to come outside to do that?" he asked, dropping Gabriel's hand. 

"We didn't. Just thought you'd enjoy a little fresh air. No? Well okay. Ready to go fix your big bro?" the archangel walked off without an answer.


	8. Dude, You Look Like Crap.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deany Weany looks like shit. Well... he's in bad shape. He's still super hot. Obviously. He's always super hot. Is it even possible for Dean to look like shit? Can I be him?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some day, when I have time, I will go through and edit this whole thing. At this point, though, I don't think anyone's even read this far.

Dean looked like shit. There was a bandage around his head covering one of his eyes. He had a neck brace and his leg was in a cast. There were machines and IV's hooked up to him, beeping and dripping steadily. It was all so very wrong.

"Oh my god." Sam didn't know how to react. He had made peace with Dean being dead back at the hospital. Well, at his hospital. But this was different. Dean wasn't dead, he was helpless and it was wrong. Dean Winchester was a strong man, stronger than most. He wasn't supposed to be helpless. Sam's horror must've shown on his face. 

"You okay there Sammy?" For the first time since he'd met Gabriel, the archangel seemed sincere. 

"Uh- yeah. I'm.... I'm fine."

"You sure? You don't have to be here for this?"

"For this? What is 'this'?"

"I'm going to heal your brother's spine and brain. It will be better for him in the long run if everything else heals on it's own. He's going to be in a lot of pain when you disconnect the morphine."

"Disconnect the morphine? Why would I disconnect the morphine?"

"Because I have to tap into the most powerful part of my grace after I fix your brother- if I do it right. I've been away from heaven so long I-"

"No- Gabriel, why is  _anyone_  disconnecting Dean's morphine?" Sam demanded.

Gabriel looked at Sam with an expression of obvious confusion, "Sam, we gotta get him out of here. We have to get him somewhere safe where he can heal. Somewhere the two of you can get back to your same old dysfunctional, murderous selves and save the friggin' world!" Gabe clapped him on the shoulder as if he'd just explained everything in perfect clarity. 

"Save the world? Wow, no pressure," Sam paused, "Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't Dean heal better here. In a  _hospital_?" 

Gabriel, who had appeared inexplicably by Dean's bedside without having walked, looked up at Sam, "You're wrong." He offered no further explanation, but continued to fuss with Dean's bandages.

"That's not correcting me, that's just... telling me."

Gabriel didn't reply. He finally quit playing with the bandage and just took it off. Sam gasped when he saw what was beneath. There was a gash running from right above Dean's eye to his hairline, where it did not stop, but disappeared. There were stitches holding it together, but it still looked pretty gnarly. It, combined with his leg and whatever was wrong with his spine, must've been excruciatingly painful, but Dean didn't react. How could he?

Gabriel must have noticed Sam's discomfort, "Sam it's going to be okay. I'm going to make it okay."

Sam took a deep breath and nodded. Gabriel put his hand on Dean's forehead like a mother checking her child's fever, and closed his eyes. The archangel was unfazed for a few seconds then, it seemed like every muscle in his body tensed. He clenched his jar and squeezed his eyes shut. Nothing happened for a few more seconds. Was this supposed to be taking this long? Gabriel started shaking, and finally, he collapsed onto the ground. It was the first time he'd broken contact with Dean, and Sam really expected something to happen. So much so that he completely ignored the archangel on the ground. He waited for something- anything to happen. Even just a fluctuation in heart rate.  But he snapped out of it and saw Gabriel motionless on the floor. The hunter felt a sudden rush of affection for the little son of a bitch. He walked towards Gabe.

"Gabriel?" he reached to take a pulse. Did angels have pulses? Well this one didn't. 

 _Oh my God he's dead,_ Sam thought.

"C'mon Gabe!" Sam pleaded aloud. He was kneeling by the archangel now. Although he'd only known him for an hour, Sam was starting to feel extremely attracted to Gabriel. The hunter grabbed Gabe's shoulder, to turn him over, but immediately let go. Suddenly, he was remembering every time he'd seen this archangel die. He remembered killing him in the theater at a college. He remembered killing him in 'TV land' and he remembered Lucifer stabbing him through with an angel blade, finally doing the trick. More than he remembered these times, and the details that accompanied them, he remembered the devastation he had felt every single time, and he realized why Cas thought Sam couldn't handle getting all of his memories back at once. Because he couldn't. He wanted to curl up next to Gabriel and simply stop living.

But then, he was hit with a whole new set of memories. Every memory he had with any connection to Gabriel. He remembered when they had first met, and both brothers had thought he was just a normal, human janitor. He remembered a soft, forbidden kiss in the hallway when Dean wasn't looking. He remembered how pissed he'd been when he had turned out to be the trickster. He remembered being excited, nonetheless, every time the Winchester brothers thought they were hunting a trickster. He remembered something that he had vowed never to tell Dean- or anyone. He remembered letting Dean die one more time after he found out what was behind the havoc at the mystery spot. He remembered spending a day with the Trickster, and that's when they had first had sex. It was rushed and Sam was distracted, sure he was going to hear Heat of the Moment again any minute, but it was wonderful. Sam remembered, every few months, the Trickster would show up in a motel room while Dean was off with a girl or doing God knows what else. Then, he remembered when the Trickster, who turned out not to be a trickster, shoving them into TV land, and eventually, he remembered the reveal, the Trickster was really an archangel. The visits behind Dean's back halted for a while, but Gabriel visited one more time before his murder. He lived all of this in a second.

Somehow, all of these memories left Sam feeling happy. He was glad for the time he'd spent with Gabriel, but then he looked back down at the unresponsive form at his knees. Sam grabbed his shoulder again, this time he didn't get flooded with memories, and successfully rolled him onto his back. The hunter held Gabriel up, his legs now under the archangel's torso, his arm across his shoulders. "C'mon Gabe. I remember you now. You don't want to leave me here with no big brother and no you do you?" he pulled Gabriel's upper body closer and held it close to his chest, rocking back and forth a couple times. Then he both bent down, and pulled Gabe up, so he could kiss him softly. He started sobbing half a second in and just held Gabriel close again. He could still hear the steady beeping coming from Dean's machines and he knew there had been no change there. All of this had been pointless, and now Sam was stuck in a strange hospital with a brain dead brother and what seemed to be a dead body. Who would he go to? Bobby was dead. Dad? Missing or dead, judging from the compete lack of him throughout the newly imported memories. His friends from Stanford? It had been six years. Castiel and Meg the demon? Sam hadn't even known angels existed until yesterday and Meg- Meg was a fucking demon!

"Gabriel," he whispered with a sudden sense of desperation, "Gabriel, please don't leave me here alone."

"Mmammm," a muffled voice interrupted Sam's thoughts of disrepair. His eyes widened and he felt the man in his arms wiggle a little.

"Gabriel?" he released him now, almost unable to contain his excitement. It was as if nothing could kill the little son of a bitch!

"Bazinga!" Gabriel exclaimed, "Jesus, Sam," he continued when Sam just looked confused, "if I'd needed to breath, you would've suffocated me."

Sam smiled and stood, Gabriel did the same, but almost fell when he stood up. Sam caught him.

"Knew you'd remember me Sasquatch," it was a simple, cocky statement. It was very 'Gabriel' and it made Sam want to cry. Instead he just kissed him. And this time, Gabriel kissed back, and it was very nice.

"Sammy's back!" Gabriel announced when they separated.

Sam chuckled, "Not quite, but I remember you."

"That's the important part. As long as you're crazy about me, you'll make it through life just fine."

Sam rolled his eyes. Dying one more time hadn't changed Gabe one bit. Still, he wanted to fuck the little asshole's brains out right then and there. Unfortunately the bed was still occupied by an unconscious Dean.

"So what's us with Dean? You did your thing and he's still... mostly dead."

"Shit, Dean. You couldn't make this one easy could you?"

"It's Dean, he's not going to make anything easy. Particularly if it involves not dying," Sam stated plainly. 

Gabriel turned around, "What?"

"I don't know, he's just been pretty depressed lately. Kind of fed up with the world, you know? The way he sees it. we patch it up and it falls apart somewhere else," Sam explained. 

Gabriel walked up to Sam and took his shoulders with a sudden urgency Sam didn't quite understand. "When did Dean say this?" he had to be sure.

"Uh... like a month ago. Right before Bobby... oh my God how do I know this?"

"Sam, tell me exactly what you remember."

"Everything until Jess died," Gabriel made a face at the name of Sam's old girlfriend which almost made Sam smile, "and then random shit along the way. I don't know, it's like something triggers it and I suddenly remember."

"You're one hell of a headcase, Sammy," Gabriel assured him as he turned back to look at Dean.

"Thanks," Sam said softly.

"Why don't we fix your brother up," Gabriel started, still looking at Dean, "then worry about you."

Sam took a deep breath, "Sounds like a plan," he said, and walked to Gabriel's side so he could see his brother better.  
"Why is he still out? Why didn't whatever you did affect him?"

Gabriel shook his head, "I don't know."

"Can you do it again?"

This time, Gabriel looked at Sam, "It almost killed me the first time. I don't know what would happen... and there's always the possibility it wouldn't even help Dean..."

Sam gave Gabriel an apologetic look. He didn't want the archangel to sacrifice his life for Dean, especially if it didn't even help. "I don't understand. Dean was in a car crash. He wasn't cursed or anything. Why didn't it work?"

Gabriel opened his mouth to answer, but shit it again. He looked back down at Dean, then at the wall directly across from him, "Leviathan beats angel," he said softly.

"What?"

"Nothing. Well," Gabe looked back at Sam, "God made the leviathans before he made us angels. He locked them away- in Purgatory- because they almost wiped out the entire perti dish- Earth- including us."

"If God locked them in Purgatory, what are they doing here?"

Gabe gave Sam a tired and possibly embarrassed look, "Long story. Castiel  let them out-"

"Why?"

"It was a mistake. Cas makes a lot of mistakes. He means well, though. Always. Like I said, long story. Anyway, they're doing something to Dean. Pumping something into his veins other than morphine."

"How? Is there a chemical that renders angels useless?"

"Archangels, Sam, please. And I'm hardly useless! See, wings work fine," Gabriel disappeared and reappeared several times to prove his point. "But if there is, leviathans would have it," finished, suddenly serious.

"Wait- are they here?"

"If Dean is here, then I'm sure they are."

"We need to get him out of here!"

"We need to get ourselves out of here."

"Where do we take him? It's not like we can just show up to the hospital I was at with Cas and Meg with my comatose brother!"

"Bobby's?" Gabriel offered.

"Dean said Bobby was dead," Sam said, furrowing his brow.

"Yeah but what about his place?"

"Just a pile of ashes and old cars now. Rufus has a cabin, though. It's in the middle of nowhere, but that's where me and Dean have been staying," Sam paused, "How do I know that?"

Gabriel grabbed Sam's face and pulled it down so he could kiss his forehead. "I love you and your fucked up fruitcake," he said after an obnoxiously loud smooch. "Do you remember where it is?"

Sam shook his head decisively, "No. I'm sure I did at some point but like I said, the middle of nowhere."

"Can you picture it?"

"I guess- whoa!" Gabriel had appeared right in front of Sam's face and touched two fingers to his forehead. Sam closed his eyes reflexively, and when he opened them again, the two of them were standing about ten feet away from Rufus's cabin.


	9. Can Archangels Get Past Angel Proofing?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm tellin' you, some day I will go through this and edit.  
> But right now, I'm going to bed.

"Little warning next time?" Sam demanded. 

"Is this is?" Gabriel asked, ignoring him.

Sam looked around. They were standing in the middle of a thin gravel road- or possibly driveway- right next to a cozy-looking cabin. "Yeah," he said slowly, then he blinked as a drop of water flew into his eye. "It's raining!"

"Just a drizzle. It should be sunny tomorrow," Gabriel said absent-mindedly.

Sam took one more look around, expecting to see a hospital bed or his brother or something. "Where's Dean?"

"Back at the hospital," Gabriel said, walking a circle around Sam, just small enough to remain on the gravel road, looking to the outside of his circle the whole time.

"Sorry- wasn't getting Dean out kinda the whole point of coming here," Sam asked, a little fed up with Gabriel and his constant switching between strangely enigmatic and incredibly idiotic. Both were very annoying.

Finally, Gabriel turned toward Sam, "Yeah. I wanted to make sure the place was clear- and the right place considering I was going off the word of a headcase- before bringing the coma patient along."

"Good point," Sam said quietly, but Gabriel was already gone. A few seconds and a flutter of wings later, and he was back, Dean's arm slung around his shoulder, conveniently standing in a small mud puddle. He was somehow supporting the taller, not to mention unconscious, man. As soon as he registered what was happening, Sam rushed to Dean's other side and slung Dean's free arm around  _his_ shoulders.

"I thought you wanted to make sure it was clear before bringing the coma patient!" Sam grunted as he helped Gabriel haul Dean to what appeared to be the front door of the little cabin.

"I did," was all the response Gabriel offered.

"What- by showing up?" 

"Eh... you could say that."

Sam glanced up and noticed the closed door, "What if it's locked?" he asked, genuinely curious.

Gabriel stopped, throwing Sam off balance, and looked around the body they were carrying,"Seriously, Sammy? I can teleport, practically change the fabric of reality, and steal two separate patients from two different hospitals in one hour- and you're worried about a locked door?"

"And yet you failed to fix Dean. Keep going, I'm getting all wet," Sam grumbled and they began to move again. They were on the porch of the cabin.

"Hey!" Gabriel exclaimed, obviously hurt by Sam's remark, "That's not my fault!"

"Sorry!" now, Sam was smiling. Gabriel really was cute, "I'm a little new to this whole angel-"

" _Arch_ angel."

" _Archangel_ thing."

As if to prove to Sam that a locked door- or door of any kind- was no problem whatsoever, Gabriel flung the door open, seemingly telekinetically. As they walked through the  _very_ open door, though, Gabriel stopped again, throwing Sam off balance, again. 

"What?" Sam panted. Hauling Dean, especially with all this stopping, was proving just how out of shape he was after his stay in the hospital. 

"Fuck."

"What?" Sam demanded.

"Angel proofing. You asshats set up angel proofing. And you wonder why I left and never came back!"

"Angel proofing? That's a thing?"

Gabriel looked around the body, again, at Sam and made a big deal of raising his eyebrows, "Yes, Sam, it's a thing."

Sam licked his lips and thought, for a second. Then, a slight smile illuminated his face a little, "Shouldn't it have to be  _arch_ angel proofing?"

"Shut up!" Gabriel whined, "You're going to have to take Dean in alone and destroy the sigils."

Sam took a deep breath, "Okay." There was a couch a little over ten feet from the door. Slowly, Gabriel shifted so that all of Dean's weight was on Sam, and then, eventually, the archangel stepped away completely. 

With his left hand, Sam held onto Dean's wrist, keeping his older brother's arm around his shoulder. Sam's right arm was around Dean's waist, trying desperately to keep him upright.

"One step at a time," Gabriel prompted.

"Yep," Sam grunted. He eventually got within shoving distance of the couch, and basically threw his brother onto the beat up thing. He took a second to catch his breath, and to look around the cabin.  There were sigils covering almost every inch of wall space.

"Do I have to destroy all of these?" Sam asked.

"NO! God, no! Don't touch any sigils until I tell you what to destroy! Screw up the wrong ones and we're visible to everyone everywhere. Angels, demons, anything that goes bump in the night. Or day-"

"Alright! Point taken!" Sam said, raising his hands to prove he wasn't touching anything, "Which ones?"

"Come here."

Sam walked towards Gabriel who held out his hand.

"Wait- do you have a pen?"

"What? Mister change the fabric of reality doesn't have a pen?"

"Shut up!" Gabriel produced a Sharpie. He drew a sigil on Sam's hand. "Destroy these."

"How?"

This time, Gabriel produced a can of spray paint, "A line through each with this should do the trick."

"Should?" Sam asked, raising his eyebrows.

"Well, if it doesn't, you're going to have to do a hell of a lot more."

"Okay?" Sam said skeptically. He took the can of spray paint and shook it halfheartedly as he studied the sigil on his hand and walked back into the cabin. He looked up when he was in front of a wall, and immediately saw one of the sigils. He took a deep breath getting ready to hold it- he didn't really want to inhale spray paint- and shook the can with more force. He pulled the cap and began to spray a red line through the sigil.

"How many of these do you there there are?" Sam asked.

"Four's the minimum, but you boys are more of the 'better safe than dead' type so there will probably be one in every room."

"And I have to destroy all of them?" Sam whined, looking at Gabriel.

"Unless you want to leave me out here to die," Gabriel was making an adorable pouty-face. Sam wanted to walk over and kiss him, but if he destroyed the sigils, Gabriel could come in, and they could do much, much more. After they fixed Dean, of course.

So Sam set to work finding and painting lines through an angel-proofing sigil in every room, trying not to harm any other sigils, not really thinking of anything in particular. There were five rooms in Rufus's cabin and a basement. Two bedrooms, a bathroom, a living area and a kitchen. The walls in every room- even the bathroom- were almost completely covered in sigils of all kinds.  Sam only recognized a few minor demon-resistant ones, but could practically feel the power that came from the expertly painted and combined sigils as he destroyed the angel-proofing ones. He began to wonder if he had painted any of them.

It did occur to Sam that Gabriel might not actually be Gabriel. That he was being conned into destroying sigils and letting some foul thing into a place of immense power, but the thought only crossed his mind as he finished destroying the final above-ground sigil. He turned around to ask Gabriel for proof, but as he turned, he heard the flutter of wings and the archangel in question was inside the cabin. 

"What about the basement?" Sam asked.

"Eh, don't need to go in there. And if I do, I'll get you to get rid of those bitches for me," Gabriel kissed Sam's cheek with a puppy-like excitement that could only be described as 'bubbly.'

Sam smiled and reacted by kissing Gabriel on the lips. It started out chaste and innocent, but Gabriel would have none of that. It took Sam three minutes and lot of grunts and moans of protest to remind Gabriel of Dean.

"Mmm, can't he wait?" Gabriel whined.

"Well we just stole him from the hospital and he's unconscious on the couch, so I'm gonna go with no."

"To be fair, he was unconscious when we stole him," Gabriel pointed out.

"Come on, Gabriel, we need to figure out what's wrong with my brother."

"He's not going anywhere!"

Sam raised his eyebrows. It seemed like he always had to be the mature one. Even when the other was a celestial being as old as time.

"Half an hour?" Gabriel pleaded.

Sam's eyebrows rose higher yet.

"Fifteen minutes?"

Sam rolled his eyes and turned away from Gabe, trying to hide his smile as he walked back to the living room. Dean was still on the couch.

"See, not going anywhere. Just the way you left him."

"Shut up. What's the plan?"

Gabriel just stared at Sam with a smile.

"What?" Sam demanded.

"You told me to shut up," Gabriel giggled.

"I hate you."

"No, you don't."

Sam rolled his eyes again, nonetheless, "What's the plan, Gabriel?"

The archangel sobered up, "Well, we decided they were pumping some angel-proof chemical into his veins right?"

"What else could we have decided?" Sam asked, beginning to doubt their theory.

"Don't be a smartass," Gabriel said, avoiding the question by pretending he didn't know it was sincere, "So, now that he's been released, I could try to heal something minor and see if it works. If it doesn't, I guess we'll just have to wait for whatever it is to work it's way out of his system."

"Wow. When I asked for a plan, I didn't actually expect you to have one."

This time, Gabriel rolled his eyes, "You've been spending too much time with your brother." He put two fingers on said brother's forehead, but immediately removed them, as if Dean's skin had burned him.

"What?" Sam demanded.

"If this doesn't work can we...?" Gabriel wriggled his eyebrows.

Sam sighed, "You're, like, twelve."

"Well? Can we?"

"Just fix my brother you immature son of a bitch."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apparently they cannot.


	10. Three's a Crowd. If You Can Get to Three.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I did a little editing (just to Chapter Nine) to make the title make sense.... so you might want to skim through that again or the whole weather thing is not going to make sense. It's literally like two sentences.

Gabriel smiled and touched Dean's forehead again. A second later, when nothing happened, he closed his eyes. Then- still, nothing had happened- he clenched his jaw. Sam could see this easily escalating to the point of the incident at the hospital.

"Gabriel, you can quit, it's okay."

Gabriel didn't respond.

"Gabe, we can try again later. 

Still nothing, but his eyes seemed to be closed tighter.

"C'mon, Gabriel, don't do this again!"

Finally, Gabriel released whatever he was holding on to with a gasp. He visibly relaxed, then began to collapse- only to be caught by the strong arms of Sam Winchester.

"You okay there?" Sam asked.

Gabriel looked up at Sam through his lashes, and batted his eyes, "Better now I've been rescued by my prince." 

Sam scoffed and gave him a shove as he turned and walked a few steps away. "You did that just so I would catch you didn't you?" he asked, turning back around.

Gabriel stood strong, no sign of the collapsing man from just seconds before. He smiled sweetly, "Yeah." 

Sam gave in and decided to give Gabe what he wanted. Hell, Sam wanted it too. He walked right back up to the cocky little archangel and grabbed his face, smashing their lips together in a messy kiss. They separated- to breath- and Gabriel smiled.

"What about your precious brother?" he asked, grinning. 

The two of them looked, in unison, at the man on the couch and Sam shrugged, "He's a coma patient. He's not going anywhere." 

"Oh, you hypocritical son of a-" Gabriel was cut off by Sam's lips.

Sam had decided he didn't need to breath, and thought Gabriel was hotter when he was shut up. Before he realized what was happening, Gabriel had him effortlessly pinned against the wall. Surprised by the sudden display of power, Sam pulled away from Gabriel and raised his eyebrows.

"What?" Gabriel asked. "Find a new kink?" 

"Shut up," Sam growled. He quickly reversed their positions, slamming Gabriel against the wall, probably a bit harder than was necessary, but it elicited a positive response. Sam was reminded the little man wasn't nearly as fragile as he looked. As his tongue forcefully made its way past Gabriel's lips again, Sam picked him up. 

In response, Gabe wrapped his legs around Sam's waist, his back still against the wall, his arms around Sam's neck, his hands in that magnificent hair. 

Sam's hands found themselves in between Gabriel and the wall, one at the base of his shoulder blades, one supporting his lower back. Sam pulled Gabriel close, so he was leaning on Sam rather than the wall, and carried him to the nearest bedroom without separating their faces, thankful he was much lighter- or at least making himself that way- than Dean. By some miracle of God, or perhaps a certain archangel, Sam did not trip, even with his lack of both knowledge of where he was going and sight of anything that wasn't the inside of his eyelids or various bits of Gabriel's face. He did, however, look away to find a bed to set the little man of while he pulled his white hospital shirt over his head. 

"You better zap my real clothes here when we're done mister change-the-fabric-of-reality," Sam said teasingly once he was shirtless. 

Gabriel was working on his own second layer. "Oh," he whined. "You don't need clothes!" 

"I will when Dean wakes up," Sam countered. 

"Are you sure?" 

Sam rolled his eyes, "Gross, Gabriel." Gabriel just smirked. "Get your fucking clothes off you perverted son of a bitch." 

"You do the same and you got yourself a deal. Wait- wrong biblical creature," Gabriel still hadn't lost the smirk. "Look what you do to me, Sammy! I'm turning into a demon!" 

"I hate you," Sam said as he stepped out of his hospital pants. 

"Love you too," said Gabriel, who had successfully chipped through the layers and was finally shirtless. 

Sam was nude before Gabriel, therefore, due to Sam's impatience, he was upon Gabriel before the latter was finished undressing. If course, that wasn't a problem since Gabriel just willed the remainder of his clothing off his vessel's body, and let Sam shove him backwards so he was lying on the bed rather than sitting. As soon as Gabriel's back hit the blankets, Sam was on top of him. 

Gabriel expected the hunter to descend immediately. To kiss his mouth, to move on to the rest of his body, to force ungodly sounds from his lips and to commit unholy acts, but Sam just stopped a few inches above Gabriel's face, almost within kissing distance. He stayed there for way too long (a few seconds) and Gabriel began to whine in the back of his throat. 

This caused Sam to bit his lip and smile. "Oh, it has been way too long," he growled. After than, he began to tear apart his archangel. He started, as Gabriel predicted, with his mouth, but he didn't stay there long. He quickly moved on to his throat, nipping and kissing and sucking dark spots into skin all the way. He moved quickly, though, eager to get to the good part. So, he moved down, nipping and kissing and sucking dark spots into skin, drawing unholy sounds from the holy being. He teased both nipples thoroughly with his tongue, causing Gabriel to throw his head back and moan, arching his back in the process. Sam stopped when he did this. Gabriel looked down at him with a look of pure and obvious disappointment . 

"Seriously Gabe? Already getting noisy?" Sam asked. Gabriel had even missed the lusty growl that was Sam's sex voice. 

"Shut up," he panted. 

"I will when you do," Sam countered with a smile. He did shut up, though, as he ran his hands down Gabriel's sides, giving up on paying special attention to every inch of his body. He slid down to Gabriel's lower body with one liquid motion. 

\- 

The sheets were scratchy and the cabin was a bit muggy, but Sam didn't notice any of that. He was laying on his back with Gabriel's head on his chest. They had never done that- never had the time, and Sam, drowsy as he was, truly enjoyed the solid feeling of another body beside his. Before he drifted off, one question passed through his mind. 

"Do you think Dean is going to be okay?" he asked, waking up a little at the sound of his own voice cutting through the silence of the cabin. Gabriel didn't answer for so long, Sam began to wonder if he'd fallen asleep. But that was ridiculous, angels didn't sleep.

"I don't know, Sammy. We just have to wait and see. Wait for whatever it was they were pumping into his veins to work its way out of his body," he said softly. 

"How long do you think that will take?" 

"I don't know," he almost sounded close to tears. No, that wasn't possible. "We'll try again in the morning." 

"Okay. Just promise me you won't hurt yourself. I don't want to lose you again." 

"Aw. That's sweet, Sammy. I promise." 

Sam, whose arms were already around Gabriel, nodded and squeezed him tighter, as if bringing him closer to his heart. Sam's hold loosened as he fell asleep. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> By the way, all of this, every word, is written in a spiral-bound notbook I take with me wherever I go. There are only two pages left open and the poor thing is taped together, but it has all my fandoms listed on the back and a few of my friends I don't see often have signed it. The notebook itself means more to me than any notebook ever had the right to and it's filled with this fic. Just thougt I'd put that out there. :)


	11. Meanwhile, Back at the Psych Ward of the Hospital

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just a short chapter taking us back to Cas, Meg and Marin. No, I did not forget about them. Yes, they do come into play at some point.

Sam did not think for one second about Cas and Marin back at the hospital, but they thought about him. Marin, who had gone back to her hospital room after Sam had kissed her, came back out when she finished her book half an hour later, to find Cas- whatever he was- sitting where she had been. Sam was nowhere to be seen. She had asked Cas where Sam was, since he had gone to find him, but Cas's explanation made even less sense than Sam's mysterious disappearance. So, she confronted the nurse's station. Five minutes, two phone calls, and a lot of paperwork later and Marin left, fuming, and with the information that Sam had apparently been checked out, although no one remembered seeing it happen or who it was that had done the checking. 

"Checked out?" she had demanded. "In his condition? Can that even happen?" 

"Evidently," the nurse had replied, just as confused as Marin. 

"Okay," Marin sighed as she slumped down in a chair after her visit with the world's least helpful nurses. Cas's story that Sam had left with the archangel Gabriel to save his comatose brother was starting to seem like the most probable explanation. It was that, or he was abducted by aliens who knew the importance of paperwork. Marin looked up and around, and found that Cas hadn't moved since she left him after his story. She sighed again, what was the worst that could happen from talking to him? Marin stood, walked a few paces to the apparent cool kids table, and sat across from Cas. She assumed he was her best chance of finding Sam- or at least what the hell happened to him. 

"The archangel Gabriel eh?" Marin asked. It sounded even crazier coming from here. 

Cas nodded, "My brother." 

Marin raised her eyebrows, "You're an archangel?" 

Cas furrowed his brow, "Angel," he corrected. 

Marin shook her head, she wouldn't even try to understand. "So, Gabriel took Sam?" she asked, desperate to limit the amount of time she spent talking to Cas. He seemed to raise more questions than he answered, and if there was one thing Marin didn't need, it was more questions. 

Cas looked away and swallowed, "I thought I was 'off my fucking rocker just like the rest of this god damn world,'" Cas said quietly. 

She had obviously hurt his feelings. He was a fucking angel, how was he so _fragile_? He really was off his fucking rocker. 

"I'm sorry," she said, packing as much sincerity as she could manage into the two words. It just ended up sounding like she was talking to a child. Then again, she kind of was. "I'm just worried about Sam." 

Cas gave her an understanding smile, and she felt very forgiven. 

"Don't worry about Sam. He's with my brother, he's as safe as he could possibly be." 


	12. Why Do You Get a Shirt?

When Sam woke up again, Gabriel was gone. Of course, he didn't sleep, why would he stay? But where did he go? Sam sat up. The door to the room was closed, and there was a pair of jeans at the foot of the bed, but no shirt. Sam rolled his eyes although there was no one there to see it. He leaned forward and pulled the jeans towards him. There was a yellow sticky note sticking to the denim. Sam ripped it off and chuckled at what was written on it.  
  
_In case Dean wakes up_ in loopy cursive. The 'i' was dotted with a heart. The smile lingered on Sam's face as he pulled the jeans on.  
  
When he opened the bedroom door, he was hit in the face full force with various smells of breakfast. Gabriel was making him breakfast. That put an even wider smile on Sam's face. He strode into the living room (it was only a few steps, really) past Dean on the couch, and into the kitchen. He stopped in the doorway to the kitchen, though, and leaned on the frame, arms crossed in front of his bare chest. There was a pleasant smile on his face.

Surely enough, Gabriel was there. He was humming and slowly stirring something in the large frying pan in front of him. Sam licked his lips and approached Gabriel, who had his back to him. The taller of the two slipped his arms between Gabe's and his sides, wrapping them around the archangel's waist. Then, he bent down so he could rest his chin on his significantly shorter lover's shoulder.

"You scared the shit outa me Sam," Gabriel mumbled. He hadn't seemed to have been fazed.

"Good morning Sunshine," Sam said softly into Gabriel's ear, ignoring his statement.

An apathetic "mmm" was Gabriel's response as he continued to stir the eggs in the frying pan. Disappointed by this response, Sam slipped his hands underneath Gabriel's black t-shirt (and therefore underneath several other layers) so he was feeling smooth skin. Gabriel shivered at Sam's cold hands and groaned in protest.  
  
"Why do you get to wear a shirt?"

"No, Sam, I'm making breakfast..." his tone was glum... very out of character.

"Oh please," growled Sam, who had given up on Gabriel's shoulder and began kissing his neck. "You could snap your fingers and a meal fit for a king would be ready on the table... which we don't have."  
  
"...and then I'm going to try to fix Dean."

"Dean can wait." Gabriel raised his eyebrows. "Your attitude was different last night. What's wrong? I thought you were a horny bastard 24/7."

Gabriel shrugged, "I'm just... never mind."

Sam squeezed him tighter and bent down to nuzzle his face into Gabe's neck. "No, tell me."

Gabriel sighed and turned so he was facing the hunter. He rose to his tiptoes so he could kiss Sam lightly, but when he returned to his normal height, he was staring blankly at the wall over Sam's shoulder. "I'm worried about your brother," he admitted. His hands rested on Sam's bare chest. He began tracing the lines of muscle. Instead of looking at the wall, all his attention now seemed to be on what his hands were doing.   
  
Sam brought one of his hands up from Gabriel's waist to caress his cheek and move a strand of hair out of his face. "Dean's gonna be fine. Like you said, we'll just wait for the chemical to leave his system."  
  
"But what _is_ the chemical? How long will it take to leave his system? Why were they pumping it into his system? Why didn't they just kill him? How will it have affected Dean when... if he wakes up?" Sam opened his mouth to speak but was cut off. "And what about you? I know the danger in giving you your memories back all at once. That would damage your soul in a way no one could repair. But I can't just let you go though life getting random flashbacks like someone in a fucking soap opera, not actually knowing who you are until God knows when," he twisted out of Sam's arms as his voice cracked, and turned back towards the stove. It was evident he was crying, but it was also evident he didn't want Sam to know he was crying. He took a deep breath. "I just want everything to be okay. I want everyone to be okay. You know, I've gone all this time not caring and you fucking Winchesters- well now I care and you sons of bitches just can't stop breaking beyond repair." He sniffed and took another deep, shaky breath. "If I hadn't run away... I would be at full power if I had just stayed in heaven and done my job instead of running like the fucking coward I am... If I was at full power, maybe..."  
  
Sam took a step forward but stopped. He wanted to physically comfort Gabriel, but was that what _he_ wanted? "Gabriel," he said, his voice more demanding than he felt. "Gabriel, none of this is your fault. You left because you didn't want to watch your family fall apart. I did the same thing when I went to Stanford. We didn't run because we were scared. We'll wait, and we'll keep trying to fix Dean. That's all we can do. We'll deal with the rest when he wakes up. I don't want you to worry about me. One problem at a time."

Gabriel turned back around and wiped his eyes, "I'm sorry," he said, "I just wish I could fix it all. I miss when I could fix it all."

Sam shook his head slightly and pulled Gabriel into a tight hug. For some reason, the phrase 'too precious for this world' popped into his mind. "It's not your job to fix everything. Certainly not alone. That's more pressure than anyone, even an archangel can take."  
  
Gabriel shook his head even though it was against Sam's chest. He didn't respond, he just took a few deep breaths and composed himself. "I'm sorry, Sam," he said, prying himself from Sam's arms.

Sam looked down at Gabriel with a worried expression.

"Let's go fix Dean." Gabriel walked past Sam, brushing his shoulder on the way, leaving Sam standing alone, staring at the wall. He sighed, turned, and walked into the main room after Gabriel.  
  
"Gabe!" he called.

The archangel tuned around when he reached Dean and the couch. "What?" he demanded.

"Just... don't beat yourself up about this. And don't try so hard to fix Dean. You're no use to me dead. We've got time."

Gabe smiled halfheartedly, "Thanks Sammy." He turned around and was about to make contact with Dean's skin when Sam stopped him again.

"Gabriel!"

"What?"

"I love you."

Now it was a real smile. "Love you too Sammich."

What happened next happened in an instant. Gabriel put his entire hand, palm down on Dean's forehead. There was a blindingly bright flash, a scream and when Sam's vision cleared- a full seven seconds later- Gabriel was gone.


	13. Okay, Now I'm Really Going to Need a Shirt.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, I got injured in a way that made it a wee bit difficult to type. Enjoy.

"Gabriel!" Sam shouted.

Dean groaned and rolled off the couch. "Son on a-" he groaned again, "bitch."

"Dean?" Sam rushed to his brother and knelt beside him. He was unsure of what else to do, considering Dean was doing most of the waking up on his own. "Oh my God, Dean, are you alright?"

"Peachy," Dean groaned as he used the couch to get to his feet. Sam followed. "Mother of fuck, my head," Dean rubbed his temples like he had the world's most intense headache.

"Your leg, it's... working?"

Dean looked up at Sam with a dumbfounded expression, "Uh-huh," he said. "Like new."

"Everything but your head?"

Dean grimaced, "What the hell happened?"

"Dean, you were in a car crash, you were in a coma for like two days!"  
  
Dean, who had been absently walking away from Sam, rubbing his face, whipped around, pain forgotten. "A crash? My baby alright?" he demanded.

Sam licked his lips and looked away.  
  
"Sammy? Is Baby okay?" Dean's face was getting red.  
  
"Listen, Dean, I haven't seen her yet-"

"Sam!"

"Gabriel said she was totaled!" Sam said, taking about half a second to finish the sentence.

"Totaled?" Dean roared. "Where is that son of a bitch- where is my God damn car?"  
  
"Dean! Calm down!" Sam yelled. "We'll get the Impala back and I'm sure you'll be able to fix her up, but for now, we've got bigger problems!"  
  
Dean raised his eyebrows, waiting for these 'bigger problems.'

"Well, first, you've been in a coma for the past day and a half, so we've got to make sure you're all... kosher. Second, Gabriel who is _responsible for your consciousness,_ was standing right there," Sam jabbed a hand in the general direction of Gabriel's last known whereabouts, "thirty seconds ago!"

"What about you?" Dean asked.

"What _a_ _bout_ me?"  
  
"What's going on with you? Do you... remember everything yet?"

Sam shrugged, "Little things here and there. Like I said, bigger problems. We need to figure out what happened to Gabriel."

"What? Why? Why does it matter what happened to Gabriel?"

Sam raised his eyebrows, "Dean, he saved your life."

"And how many times had he tried to kill us? How many times has he succeeded? You're such a headcase you may not remember, but I sure as hell do. Or- I remember most of it. Some of it. Point is, we're better off without that son of a bitch and no matter what he's done in the recent past to redeem himself, it ain't enough."  
  
Sam gritted his teeth. He did remember. He remembered the hundreds of times Dean had died by Gabriel's hand and all of the ridiculous tricks. "Dean, he's an archangel. Wouldn't it be _a little helpful_ to have an _archangel_ on our side?"

"Who says he's on our side?"

Sam took a sharp breath. "I do."

Dean scoffed, "And what makes you such an expert?" he took a step closer to Sam. "Last I checked you didn't know _shit._ "  
Sam took a deep breath, "What the hell Dean? I remember little things here and there," he repeated. Why was Dean being such an ass? More so than usual- and that was saying something.

"And why should I believe-"

"Because," Sam shouted, "he's my fucking-" a hand clamped down on his mouth before he could finish his sentence.

"Ah-ah-ah!" Gabriel said in Sam's ear. "I really don't think you want to tell him that." He removed his hand from Sam's face.

"You son of a-"  
  
"Where the hell did you go?" Sam demanded, turning around before Dean could avenge his car, placing himself between Gabriel and his pissy brother.  
  
"Hell isn't the word I immediately think to use, but now that I think about it," Gabriel nodded, "It's pretty accurate. Used a little too much power. Thought it would kill be, but I just got cast back into Heaven. Barely escaped all the brotherly hugs..."

That's when Sam noticed Gabriel's split lip and the cuts on his left cheekbone and right eyebrow. "They tried to-"

"Yeah, they tried to kill me. Just like old times. My family doesn't really approve of free will- or those who wield it. In their eyes, I fell. Much like Castiel, but instead of trying to fix all the problems I caused, I just sat in the shadows. They- especially Micheal's followers didn't like that I- an archangel- tried to just... sit out the apocalypse. I argued that I tried to get you two in on the whole vessel thing, but I guess that just wasn't enough participation for the end of the world."

Sam shrugged.

"Oh, not you too!" Gabriel exclaimed.

"Well it's not like I don't support your free will, I do- wholeheartedly. It's just that, you probably could've done a little more to... well a little more."  
  
Gabriel raised his eyebrows, "You do realize I would not have been on your side, right?"

Sam sighed. "Yeah. It's not that, though. It's just... at a time like that you're expected to fight for what you- you know what? Never mind. I'm not getting into this with you."

"Oh get a room, you two," Dean said dryly, causing Sam to turn around to face him. Both Sam and Gabriel stared at Dean with the same wide-eyed expression. "Um... I was kidding," Dean said awkwardly. "Is there something going on here," Dean gestured towards the two, "that I don't-"  
  
"No," they said at the same time. "Can I get a shirt?" Sam added, addressing Gabriel, but still looking at Dean.  
  
Gabriel snapped his fingers and Sam was wearing a white t-shirt the clung to his every muscle.   
  
"Uh-huh," Dean mumbled.   
  
"You should get some sleep," Sam said quickly.

"But it's like eleven in the morning. And... according to you I've been in a coma for like thirty six hours. I don't really think I need any more sleep."

"Near-death experiences can be exhausting," Sam said plainly.

"Not for us," Dean pointed out. "For us it's like a daily thing."

"And besides," Sam continued, as if Dean hadn't spoken. "If Gabe-"

"Gabe?" Dean teased.  
  
"If Gabriel got cast back into heaven trying to heal you, I doubt he finished the job-"

"Actually-" Gabriel started before Sam silenced him with a glare.

"I just think it'd be in your best interest to rest a little. If not sleep, at least take it easy," Sam said desperately. He needed to get his brother out of the room. He needed a word with Gabriel alone. "You want a book or... something?"  
  
Dean scoffed. "A book? Do you know me? Honestly, I feel fine. Ready to get out there and start hunting. Maybe..." Dean's voice got deeper and more sinister, "grab a bite," the corners of his mouth twitched up in a saw that seemed, to Sam at least, very out of character. It was the kind of smile you might see on a serial killer- one who really enjoyed what they did- right before they attacked.

"Please, Dean," Sam begged, trying to shake the feeling that something was off about his brother. Something was different, and it wasn't just the graveness that becomes more and more visible as a hunter's life goes on. Sam turned to Gabriel for support, but the archangel was tensed up. His fists were clenched and his eyes were on Dean, stare murderous. His knees were bent slightly as if he were ready to pounce. Sam got the distinct feeling that if he were a dog, his hackles would be up. It was evident no help was going to come from Gabriel, even if Sam was brave enough to ask for it. So, Sam turned back to his brother. Dean was staring right back at Gabriel, this strange smile still on his face.  
  
"If you're hungry I can make you a sandwich," Sam offered ridiculously. He was desperate the breath the silence and end the stare down before the cabin exploded.

"Nah," Dean said without breaking eye contact with Gabriel. "I'm good." The smile molded to fit each word and lingered on Dean's face a few seconds after he had spoken, but as soon as he looked away from Gabriel, it disappeared. "I will take the WiFi password, though," he said, looking at Sam now, his face and voice back to normal. "And- uh- a laptop if you have one."  
  
Sam rolled his eyes, "You're not going to watch porn for the rest of the say," he said, infinitely more comfortable in the presence of the brother than emerged when the smile disappeared.   
  
"Hey, you said relax!"

Sam scoffed, "You know what? Whatever. Gabriel," Sam turned back to look at Gave and was surprised to see him still tense, eyes still on Dean. "Uh- um..." Sam stuttered, having lost his train of thought. "You think you could zap a computer into existence?"

Sam watched Gabriel, expecting a response, or even just a nod, but he didn't even blink. There was a loud clattering noise behind Sam, causing him to jump and turn around. There was an old laptop- one that 2005-dwelling Sam recognized- sitting unharmed on the floor.

Dean shrugged, "Thanks. Password?"

"None," Gabriel growled.

"Great," Dean whispered back, and the smile returned before he turned and walked back towards the rooms, laptop in hand. "Which one belongs to the happy couple?" he called.

"The one closest to the bathroom," Sam yelled back.


	14. Sam Winchester and the Half Human Brother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gabriel figures out what's wrong with Dean. Sorry this took so long

As soon as he heard the door close, Sam turned towards Gabriel. "What the hell was that?" he demanded.

"I know what they were pumping in Dean's veins," Gabriel replied, just beginning to relax.

"What does an angel repellent have to do with the world's most intimidating staring contest forty five seconds ago?" Sam almost yelled.

"Leviathan blood."

Sam opened his mouth to speak, but closed it again. "Ah- what?"

Finally, Gabriel looked away from where Dean had disappeared and at Sam. "I guess I don't know for sure, but it makes sense. Look, I know your brother, he's a pain in the ass, but that was not him. I didn't really see it until his decided to have a freakin' stare sown."

"I saw it too, but why would Leviathan blood change his behavior? And why would they put it in his body to begin with?"

"I guess you probably don't remember, but a few years back, you decided it would be a brilliant idea to start chugging demon blood."

"Ruby," Sam agreed, beginning to remember.

"Exactly, and when you got really bad... drained a whole demon, your eyes-"

"Turned black," Sam finished, surprising himself. "While I was trying to kill Lilith."

"Yeah," Gabriel said softly.

"You think it turned me into a demon?" Sam asked.

"Only for a moment!" Gabriel said quickly. "Like five seconds tops!"

"Wait- you think Dean is a Leviathan?" Sam demanded, and though his voice was lower to keep his brother from hearing, it contained an undeniable ferocity.

"No!" Gabriel exclaimed. "He didn't have nearly enough- there is no possibly way he could have gotten enough blood to turn him into a Leviathan. It takes about as much human blood as I would say Dean got Leviathan blood, plus a shit ton of Latin to cure a demon," he assured Sam.

"You can cure a demon?" Sam roared.

"Curing demons? What?" Dean pitched in from his room.

"Go watch your porn!" Sam yelled back.

Gabriel rolled his eyes, "Yes, you can cure a demon. Some old priest figured it out like fifty years ago. Old news, really. I'm surprised two relatively competent hunters such as yourself and your brother don't know about it."

"Well... how?" Sam asked.

Gabriel shook his head, "You'll come across that information when you need it. For now-"

"Do you know the lives we could-"

"Save the speech," Gabriel interrupted, "Point is, if you pump enough blood from of species- one of The Big Three anyway-"

"The big- what?"

"The Big Three. Monsters. Leviathans, demons and... don't get mad... humans."

Sam pondered that for a second. "Understandable," he mumbled. "Though I don't see why angels aren't on that list."

"Ouch," Gabriel said. "It's the angels' list. Only codependent brothers think of _th_ _emselves_ as monsters."

"Very funny."

"Anyway, you shoot a demon up with enough human blood and he starts acting human, and visa versa. My theory is, if you pump enough Leviathan blood into a human, and he becomes even more of a dick. I bet your brother would love to chow down on the neighbors right now. He's probably pretty hard to kill, too. Harder than usual."

"Your theory?" Sam asked skeptically.

"This is all new ground, Sammy," Gabriel said, opening his arms. "Scientific discoveries! You're not going to find any of this in an old book."

Sam sighed. "Great. So my brother is part Leviathan. Is it permanent?"

Gabriel shrugged. "Like I said, new ground. My guess would be that he'll go through some withdrawal symptoms, like the first time you were taken off demon blood, and once it's out of him and his body remembers how to be a body without it, he'll return to his old self," he laughed, "I love how I'm saying that like it's a good thing."

Sam rolled his eyes, then thought about what Gabriel had said. "How do you know about my reaction to being taken off demon blood? I didn't even know about it until you said it.

"Gabriel just smiled. "Before we get everybody's favorite mass murdering man child back though, he needs to stay here. You cannot let him leave this cabin. _Especially alone._ "

"What?" Sam laughed. "No! We need to get him to a panic room. Somewhere that's equipped to deal with what Dean is going to turn into when he's pissed. He'll tear this whole place apart with his bare hands!"

"Look, Sam, while Dean is like this, he is a monster. And not just in the eyes of the angels. Your brother is something your friends are going to want to hunt, and if they do," Gabriel paused and lowered his voice. "Dean will tear _them_ apart with his bare hands. He might just take a few innocent people down in the process. Which brings us to plan B."

"Plan B?" Sam asked, almost afraid to know.

"What happens if the blood doesn't wear off. What happens if this does become permanent. Like I said, he's a monster. He's not your brother, not right now. If he doesn't start to get better..." Gabriel took a breath. "We can't have a human/Leviathan hybrid running around, especially not now. I just want to prepare you for that possibility."

Sam took a deep breath, "The possibility that I might have to kill my brother."

Gabriel laughed, "No of course not! Don't be so dramatic."

Sam furrowed his brow. Was there another way of dealing with a human/Leviathan hybrid he was missing?

"Why would... _you_... have to kill him?" Gabriel asked guiltily. "I'm definitely qualified."

Sam let go of the breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. Why had he allowed himself to hope?

"Right," he said softly.

"It probably won't come to that, though," Gabriel assured Sam. "I mean look at you: ex-blood junkie and you're just fine."

Sam raised his eyebrows. "Yeah... fine."

Gabriel sighed. "Your memory thing has nothing to do with it. Dean's going to alright."

"'Course I am," Dean said from outside his door. "There's nothing wrong with me. Right Sammy?" he emphasized both 'right' and 'Sammy'. Sam gritted his teeth and turned to face his brother. "Why wouldn't I be alright... Sam?"


End file.
